WASHINGTON—NAFCU, CUNA, the ABA and four other financial trade groups are taking part in a one-week ad campaign, “Stop the Data Breaches,” to promote passage of HR 2205/S 961, the “Data Security Act.”
The effort is underway at the same time the National Retail Federation makes its way to Capitol Hill this week.
A new website, www.StopTheDataBreaches.org, details how the legislation would hold retailers to the same strong data security standards that credit unions already follow under the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act. Ads began running online Monday, and a print ad is scheduled to run this week in The Hill, NAFCU reported. The campaign is also advancing this issue on Twitter using the hashtag #stopthedatabreaches.
NAFCU, which reminds that it is the first financial trade association to call for national data security standards for retailers, said it has consistently pushed Congress to adopt the “Data Security Act” to ensure retailers have the data and cyber security standards necessary to protect consumers’ information. The legislation would also institute notification requirements in the event of breaches such as those in 2013 and 2014 affecting Target Corp. and Home Depot customers.
The new website shares facts on data breaches, including a total of how many personal records were compromised in 2015. The site says: “Americans Deserve Better Protection of Sensitive Personal Data.” It adds that “All entities that handle sensitive financial data should be required to protect that data. Financial institutions have had this obligation for 15 years, and it’s long overdue for Congress to pass legislation ensuring that everyone has a similar mandate to keep customer data safe. Instead of enabling breaches to continue unchecked, Congress should move forward the bipartisan Data Security Act and not waste the remainder of this year.
The site then asks people to electronically sign a petition to support HR 2205/S. 961.
The Independent Community Bankers of America, the Financial Services Roundtable, the Consumer Bankers Association, and The Clearing House are the other participating groups.
NAFCU said it is encouraging credit unions to take action through its Grassroots Action Center to contact their members of Congress in support of HR 2205/S 961 this week as well.
“Credit unions and other financial institutions are continuing to pay the tab for retailer data breaches, and consumers’ data remains vulnerable,” says Brad Thaler, NAFCU’s vice president of legislative affairs. “The ‘Data Security Act,’ which would establish a strong national standard that is scalable according to an entity’s size, would help ensure that everyone in the payments chain is doing their part to protect consumers’ data.”
A survey of NAFCU members last year showed that the estimated costs associated with merchant data breaches in 2014 were $226,000 on average.
CUNA in 2014 launched its data security advocacy site, StopTheDataBreaches.com